Journey Across the Stars
by SpaceCat010
Summary: (V2) They were close when she first joined, but an encounter with an old nemesis and a brush with death will bring them even closer.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: __This is the (marginally) better rewrite of the dumpster fire that is the original version of this story.__ Though there are definitely still some things that could be improved, this is leagues better than the original version, and getting this out of the way allows me to get to work on other stories (namely, the sequel). Thank you for putting up with my laziness and procrastination, thank you all for reading, and an even bigger thank you to those who reviewed.  
_

_Star Fox belongs to Nintendo._

**_"Journey Across the Stars" by SpaceCat010_**

**_Chapter I - Welcome Home _**

* * *

Fox stepped into an elevator at the headquarters of the Cornerian Defense Force, held his badge up to a scanner, and pushed the button for the top floor. After a few moments, the elevator gently lurched upwards, and began its climb to the 70th floor of the gigantic building. Letting his mind drift in an effort to kill some time, he thought about the telepathic blue vixen they had brought back from their most recent mission; the reason he was going to talk to General Pepper in the first place.

_'Krystal...'_

Although he was way too embarrassed to admit it to anyone, he had some serious feelings for her. Just a few nights ago they had up late, sitting on the couch in the common area of the _Great Fox_, talking about everything from what it was like to live on a giant space cruiser, what Corneria was like, but most importantly, their pasts.

_Krystal's somewhat happy tone had become much more sober. The pain she was feeling had nowhere near healed, unlike Fox. His wounds had been scarred over, pushed aside, locked away like the unwanted memory it was, although it seemed as though just the wrong cut could reopen the stinging, bloody wound. Her shaky voice slowly trying to explain what had happened while keeping what little composure she had left was about all Fox could take._

_The same mad ape that killed both of his parents not only killed hers, but had invaded and destroyed her entire planet. _

_Fox pulled her into a tight hug as she tried her best to tell him the rest of her story through hot tears, but one look at her eyes told him all he needed. That empty, helpless gaze she held was just like the one he held for years after his mother's death, and even longer after his father's. She had nowhere to go, no friends to back her up when she set out looking for answers. All she got was the life nearly drained out of her inside a giant crystalline prison standing over a fall that definitely would've killed her, had it not been for some quick thinking and a jumping save._

_After she had come aboard to thank him in person, the realization had hit her. _

_She got her answers. _

_Now what?_

Fox smiled as he remembered the feeling of how she embraced him when he offered to take her with them back to Corneria to help her find a home and a place to restart.

_The soft, plush feeling of her fur felt softer than any blanket he'd ever touched, and her deep blue eyes were like endless oceans, almost seeming as if they peered into his very soul, reading him like an open book._

_A little more color crept onto his ears at the memory of Krystal falling asleep on his shoulder that night while they both sat on the couch together, staring out the window at the flickering stars off in the distance._

/

Fox was pulled from his reverie by the sound of the elevator chime, indicating that he had reached his floor. The orange vulpine stepped out, and walked over to the receptionist's desk.

A brown feline was typing away at her computer while trying to address him at the same time.

"General Pepper is currently waiting for someone, so if you're here to see him, then you'll have to-" she stopped instantly as she looked up, surprised that the vulpine that had saved their planet countless times was standing in front of her, an amused smirk plastered on his face. "Oh! Mr. McCloud! I didn't except you to be here s-"

"No worries," Fox cut her off. "Is Pepper in his office?"

Just as the feline was about to answer, a large, mahogany door with golden trim on the opposite side of the room opened. General Pepper stepped out and greeted him. "McCloud! I'm glad you made it back! I just got your forms printed." Fox gave the receptionist a small smile and a quick nod, then headed for the general's office.

"So I'm assuming this is about the subject you brought back from your most recent mission? Krystal, right?" Pepper asked as he stepped inside and closed the door.

"Yes. She wants to join the team." Fox said, maybe a little too fast as he'd have liked.

_'Dammit, think about Slippy. Think about Slippy.'_

"And I'm also assuming you're here to get supplies for said recruit?" Pepper asked, with a little more questioning tone this time.

Fox nodded. Speech was already failing him.

"When will you need the payment for the extra arwing?"

"That won't be necessary." The general said with a slight smile on his face.

"What? Why?" Fox asked, unsure of who all of a sudden had an extra arwing laying around.

"Peppy contacted me a couple days ago, said his arwing hadn't been doing anything other than collecting dust since the day he retired. We'll be restoring it and upgrading it for your new recruit."

Fox already knew that Peppy tried to pay for it as well, and tried to interject.

"That's really generous of him, but-"

"He also added explicit instructions to refuse any objection," The general chuckled as he grabbed several sheets of paper from his printer and slid them into a manila document packet.

"Here. You'll have to fill these out so we can add her to the payroll. We'll need her to come in and have her measurements taken for a flight suit, but that can wait for now."

Fox thanked the general and left the office, papers in hand and a lopsided grin on his muzzle. As he made his way towards the exit, his grin quickly faded and turned to a scowl. A large group of media vans and reporters were outside the building, waiting for a specific celebrity mercenary to walk out.

'_Great,' _Fox thought to himself. '_Of course they recognize the car.'_

The dark silver LeDorean with striking red accents had become an icon in Cornerian media and celebrity news, so Fox always managed to get mobbed wherever he went. Despite the constant bombardment of interviews and microphones, Fox would drive that car until it broke down, and then fix it up and keep driving it. The car had belonged to his father, and Fox felt like he had a legacy to carry in one way or another.

Bracing himself for all the shouting and microphones to come, he took a deep breath and began walking towards his car.

Literal seconds after he opened the glass door, he was spotted. The sea of reporters flocked to him and started asking questions a mile a minute, most of which could make anyone utterly disgusted by their nosiness, but Fox was a forgiving person, to an extent at least. Andross was a prime example of this. Just as he'd reached his car, one reporter asked the simplest questions out of every single one that kept being thrown at him. "Is it a new recruit?"

Fox was perplexed that they'd managed to figure that much out, although it was highly likely just a lucky guess. The news of him rescuing Krystal off of dinosaur planet was only disclosed to higher-ups of the Cornerian Defense Force and the other members of Star Fox. That, and the papers he was carrying were in a sealed folder.

The mercenary in question had climbed into his car after managing to push through the sea of reporters, and glanced at the reporter outside his rolled down window. If they wanted something, he could at least give them a little bit of info, but not much. Fox was a fox, and he loved messing with people.

"Maybe," was all he said, dragging out the 'M' unnecessarily long with a sly smirk.

As soon as he said that, the crowd had gone into an uproar of more questions, but the vulpine had already rolled up the window, started the engine, and put the pedal to the metal.

Fox brought up his communicator, and dialed a number while he left the press vans behind him in the dust.

/

Krystal was strolling around the large, spacious rooms of the McCloud family manor, passing the time while she waited for her soon-to-be captain to return. Fox had inherited the manor from his father when he died, and now used it for housing his team whenever they were on Corneria. Full of anticipation for him to return with the forms, she couldn't help but let her mind wander to the orange mercenary in question.

_'Fox...'_

Just thinking about him made her blush a little, as she'd developed a massive crush on him since he saved her from falling down Krazoa Palace, which had only grown stronger over the two week long journey back to Corneria. How he was always there for her at a moment's notice, wanting to make sure she felt welcome, how he sat by her side and comforted her when she talked about what she was doing all alone in space in the first place, the way he'd flatten his ears whenever he blushed, and so much more about him gave her this feeling of comfort that no one else could have ever given to her.

A smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she recalled Fox and her, sitting on the couch in the common area aboard the _Great Fox_, staying up super late and talking about everything, sharing both their good and bad memories, and eventually falling asleep on his shoulder while they watched the stars.

Speaking of bad memories...

She couldn't think of anyone but herself that had such a similar story. Fox was barely eight years old when the same mad scientist that wiped out her entire planet had killed his mother. Krystal cried at the mental picture he painted for her of a small Fox McCloud, sobbing at the mutilated and charred corpse of his mother, his father running out of the house towards him with a distressed look on his face.

As if to add insult to injury, Fox lost his dad to the same ape, or more specifically, someone hired by said ape. Fox wasn't exactly the vengeful type, but avenging his parents by killing Andross and the man who he hired to kill his father was something he'd vowed to do before he himself died. She remembered how Fox described the feelings of pure hatred he felt when he pulled the trigger, giving Pigma Dengar the explosive, painful death that he deserved. All the hardship and loss that he'd experienced had turned him into the most stoic, reserved person one could have ever seen.

Well, until _she_ was around him.

Krystal's presence alone was enough to break Fox out of his shell, and turn him into a blushing and stuttering buffoon at a loss for words. Even when she first boarded his ship, she had to suppress a few giggles as she watched his blushing, stuttering, self get pushed towards her by his teammates.

Just then, her communicator rang, and she looked down at the holographic display.

_INCOMING CALL: __FOX MCCLOUD_

Mentally preparing herself for the news to follow, Krystal took in and let out a few deep breaths, and hit the answer button. The rumble of a 6-cylinder engine flooded the speaker.

"Krystal?" Fox asked over the noise, his voice laced with a bit of concern.

"Yes?"

"I may or may not have attracted some... Attention... So don't answer anyone that comes to the door."

"What? How?"

Fox let out a sigh and told her the truth.

"Long story short is, Star Fox is kind of a celebrity icon in Cornerian media."

Krystal only heard the word 'celebrity,' despite the engine noise in Fox's car being somewhat quiet at the time. Celebrities were actually quite common back on Cerinia, and Krystal had her fair share of beings that she absolutely adored.

"Wait... So you're... Famous?" She asked, unaware that she'd be joining a _famous_ mercenary team.

"Well... Yes. I'll be back soon, just open the door for me when I show up." Fox said, the engine of his car revving loudly as he tried to race home before the media vans could catch up to him.

"O-Okay. See you soon." Krystal said as she hung up. She couldn't believe it; her, a celebrity! By not only being rescued by the orange vulpine she was head over heels for, but also by joining his team, she had just made herself famous in Cornerian media. The vixen ran to the living room, grabbed the TV remote, and turned on the TV on the far side of the room.

Flipping to the celebrity news channel, she found that people not only had new pictures of Fox himself in his sports car, but that news got around the Cornerian media _fast_. A headline below two canines talking at a table read in bold letters, _"BREAKING: NEW MEMBER OF STAR FOX?"_

Krystal was instantly filled with excitement, they had no idea they were talking about her. The two canines on screen were discussing who they thought it could be, most likely Bill Grey, a CDF pilot well connected with Star Fox, or possibly Katt Monroe, computer extraordinaire and another well known Star Fox associate. Krystal had never met them before, so she'd have to ask Fox later.

Speaking of which, she glanced out the large, rectangular window to see Fox had parked his car in the driveway and was sprinting towards the front door, followed by a mob of reporters wielding microphones and cameras. She raced down the stairs to open the door for him, and watched as Fox sprinted across the lawn, nearing the front door of the manor.

Krystal quickly opened the door as the orange mercenary ran inside, and was met with a flash of white as she closed the door as fast as possible.

"Oh great." Fox muttered while panting loudly.

"What was that?" Krystal asked as she blinked a few times to clear the spots from her vision, unaware that a picture of her poofy blue tail sticking out in the doorway was likely going to be sold to multiple tabloid companies and other news outlets.

"Looks like they got a picture of you. I guess that spoils the surprise." Fox said as he collapsed at the base of the stairs in the foyer. "Come on, let's head into the kitchen. I've got something for you."

Krystal's tail began wagging at the speed of an Arwing's afterburners as Fox pulled out a yellow envelope, removed the contents, and set them down on the counter.

"Welcome to Star Fox, Krystal." Fox grinned.

A million thoughts were racing through her head. She finally found her answers, found a home and a new group of friends, as well as developed a huge crush and personal friendship with the most famed mercenary on Cornerian celebrity news. She was at a loss for words, and did the only thing she could think of.

She grabbed his collar, planted a kiss on the side of his muzzle, and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, an elated grin spanning over her muzzle.

"Thank you," was all she got out.

After the shock had worn off, Fox wrapped his hands around her back and smiled, enjoying the feeling of hugging her again. It seemed as though it was a feeling he couldn't get enough of, no matter how many times it happened. After a little while, the two foxes pulled away from each other, blushing like tomatoes. Much to his chagrin, Fox saw the reporters still on his front lawn through the kitchen window, and Fox walked over to shut the blinds.

Just then, he had an idea.

The famed vulpine walked over to the front double doors, and threw them wide open.

Yelling at the top of his lungs, he quickly got everyone's attention.

"It's not Grey, and it's not Monroe either!"

The tall wooden doors of the McCloud manor slammed shut with a loud _THUD._

"I was about to ask a similar question," came the voice of his new teammate from behind him.

"About what?" Fox responded. The two of them began walking towards the living room.

"Grey and Monroe. Who are they?" Krystal asked as she sat down on the couch.

_'Guess I didn't tell her about them yet_.'

Grey was one of my best friends since my flight academy days, he became a pilot for the CDF after I quit to become a merc. Sometimes we'd stumble across each other on a mission, but our most recent mission together was during the Lylat Wars.

Krystal recalled Fox telling her about the Lylat Wars, a series of conflicts started by a mad scientist the two of them were all too familiar with.

_"Fox, you made it!" Came a laid-back sounding voice over the comm._

_"Bill! That you? I can't believe it!" The vulpine responded cheerfully._

_"We can catch up later Fox, the flagship will arrive any second now."_

_A dark shadow loomed over the Cornerian airbase, getting darker and darker as the large, octagonal mothership descended from the clouds._

_"Go for the 4 hatches on the underside!"_

_Fox quickly went to work, firing at the 4 hatches on the underside of the ship, looping back around, and firing again. Eventually, the hatches opened, allowing the mercenary to fire a smart bomb into one of them before they all closed._

_The repetitive, arduous process had taken him hours, until the core of the ship finally exploded from the last smart bomb in his bay._

_"Yee Haaa! You did it!" Bill exclaimed as he looped over Fox._

_The vulpine smirked at his friend._

_"Good to see you again Bill, we've got some major catching up to do once this is all over."_

_"Agreed."_

_The four arwings adorned with the Star Fox insignia split away from the CDF's fighters, jetting off into outer space._

"Sure, it may have been pretty short, but it was nice to see him during all of that," Fox said as he sat down on the couch next to her.

Krystal smiled.

"What about Katt?"

"Falco's long-time, on-and-off girlfriend," said the vulpine nonchalantly.

"That's it?"

"She's helped us out here and there, but if you want to know anything more about her then I'd go ask Falco."

"Fair enough."

The two sat in a comfortable silence for some time until Krystal grabbed the TV remote and powered on the large screen again. The black rectangle lit up, casting the two in its bright glow.

The same celebrity news channel that Krystal had briefly viewed earlier had now become an argument between the two canines over who was the owner of the banded blue tail poking out from the other side the door of the manor.

"You guys really are famous," she mumbled at the sight of how fast the picture had spread.

Fox smirked at her.

"That's what happens when you save a galaxy."

The blue vixen giggled. The mercenary she had become so enamored with could as stoic as stone and as tough as steel, but was tender, warm, and kind around her.

_'He really is a hero.'_

_'My hero.'_

* * *

_Footnotes:  
_

_\- In this AU, Peppy has already retired from merc work, hence his absence. This story in particular takes place about six months after Assault, though this prologue chapter is just after Adventures.  
_

_\- I like to think the receptionist in the CDF building just plays minesweeper all day instead of working.  
_

_\- Yes, Fox's car is a DeLorean. I didn't say that in the story because LeDorean sounded more amusing. No, it can't time travel, not yet anyway. (wink, wink)  
_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter II - Liftoff**  
_

* * *

_Ten months later  
_

During the Aparoid attack on the Lylat system, Krystal acclimated faster to becoming a fighter pilot than anyone had ever expected. She may have had little experience in a star fighter compared to her teammates, but having one-on-one, hands-on training with the top graduates of the most renowned flight school in Lylat can turn anyone into a combat ace in no time. Of course, this also meant plenty of time for Fox and Krystal's relationship to blossom into a more intimate and caring one. To everyone's dismay, however, neither of them had admitted anything to each other. Although the tension between them had been steadily growing, three small words were bound to change that sooner or later.

The beginning of the first winter on Corneria saw a few inches of snow, as well as the reconstruction efforts that followed the Apraoid invasion finally wrapping up. On the more quaint side of things, the most famed unofficial celebrity couple could be seen walking home through the sleepy city on a quiet night. The treeline of the park next to them provided the perfect foreground against the backdrop of a starry night sky.

"I've always loved stargazing, my mom and I used to sit in the park and just watch the night sky when I was a kid."

"And to have the opportunity to fly among them every day."

Fox looked at Krystal and smiled. The cool glow of the moon reflected off his emerald eyes, catching her aquamarine ones in their radiant gaze.

"Not many people have that opportunity, that's for sure."

_'There aren't that many stars as bright as you, either.'_

Krystal had heard every word float off the forefront of his consciousness as clear as day, but had to pretend not to notice as her cheeks lit up slightly. In a move that surprised him, she hugged Fox's arm, pushing up against him and causing a storm of thoughts to wash over his mind.

"Still a telepath, remember?" She asked with a sultry look on her face.

Fox's slight blush turned into an eruption of red covering his muzzle and ears.

"No comment," came the embarrassed vulpine's reply.

Her melodious laugh was always music to his ears.

/

The two continued to walk along the dimly lit sidewalk towards the house, Krystal still hugging Fox's arm. Despite having a coat on, Krystal soon began to shiver. The tropical climate of Cerinia had spoiled her rotten, so her fur never grew out in the winter, even if her tail consistently stayed obscenely fluffy. Fox noticed this, and lifted his arm away from his partner.

Confusion quickly roused within her as to why her captain was pulling away. She began to probe his thoughts, wondering what was wrong, until she was stopped by the comforting weight of his strong arm falling over her shoulders.

She smiled in joy, now feeling another wave of 'crush' emotions come from his blazing fire of a mind.

No more words were said until they reached the manor, though they enjoyed the comfortable silence to say the least.

"That was a nice walk," Krystal said as Fox opened the door for her.

Fox made an affirming noise.

"Thanks for coming with me, I would have shown you the walking trail, but the parks tend to close pretty early in the winter."

"I'm sure it would have been just as peaceful and relaxing," the vixen said as she hung up her puffy jacket in the coat closet.

"So, what's for dinner?" she asked as she stared out the window at the light snowfall, leaning over the kitchen island.

"That depends, is stew fine?" came the vulpine's reply.

"In weather like this, stew sounds amazing."

Fox nodded, and went to work on expertly cutting up meat and vegetables, while Krystal opened opened the door to the pantry. Her eyes roamed across the sizeable stock of food and kitchenware until she settled on four objects - two mugs, and two packets of hot cocoa mix. She stepped out of the pantry, closing the door behind her with her banded tail, and set the mugs with the packets in them down on top of the island.

Before she could go to the fridge and grab the milk, though, Fox set the jug of milk down next to her, winked, and turned back around to begin putting the stew ingredients into the pot of now boiling water.

The azure vixen smiled at him, and poured the milk and hot cocoa mix into the mugs. Soon after, Fox heard the microwave timer start up with a high pitched _beep_ and a few soft thumps as Krystal padded up next to him. She watched the stew pot for a few moments, and then wrapped her arms around him, causing him to tense up slightly. Her elegant, posh accent gently floated into his ears.

"That smells amazing."

Fox smiled brightly through his deep blush, and grabbed the two bowls on the counter next to him. Krystal had pulled away, but only until he'd finished pouring the delicious stew into the dishes, steam slowly rising up in careless waves above them. The vulpine returned the vixen's tight, affectionate embrace, wondering when he'd finally let the three words on the tip of his tongue roll off like the both of them wanted to.

_'No, it's too soon. I can't tell her if she's not ready.'_

Slowly, Fox pulled away, as did Krystal, both masking their disappointment in their failure to say anything.

_'What if I'm stalling for nothing?'_

/

The two ate dinner on the large, mahogany dining table, quietly enjoying the stew Fox had prepared.

"So, where have Falco and Slippy been? I haven't seen them at all today," asked the vixen as she set her spoon down next to her now empty bowl.

"Slippy texted me and told me that he was going to spend some time with his family, hadn't gotten to see his dad in a while. Falco, though, I'm really not sure. He could be passed out at the bar right now for all I know."

Krystal couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at that. Falco had always been a bit of a free spirit. Whether they were on a mission or not, the avian always had a knack for doing things his own way, though he still had everyone's back when it mattered most.

_What if she's just waiting for me to make a move?_

Well, I'm going to go get ready for bed, thank you for the dinner, Fox," she said as she got up with her bowl and went into the kitchen.

"Anytime, Krystal," he called back.

_'Come on, don't let her slip away just yet.'_

_'No, I can't tell her. If she doesn't feel the same way it'll make things worse.'  
_

_'How would she not feel the same way? You don't see how she looks at you?'_

_'There's no way she'd actually want me, she's way out of my league.'_

_'Why is this so hard? Just tell her how you feel, dammit!'_

_'Maybe it's because I don't want to fuck things up like I did with Fara!'_

_'So you mean to tell me that someone who saved an entire galaxy can't tell a girl how he feels?'_

_'Fine, fine. I'll tell her tomorrow. Now isn't the time to talk about this.'_

_'Keep telling yourself that, and she might lose interest in you.'_

As Fox continued to internally argue with himself in the dining room, Krystal listened in while she began walking up the stairs. Hearing his inner turmoil made her want to run up and hug him, to tell her how she really felt so he could stop hurting himself.

_'But would that really help him? Or would it just give him one more thing to worry about?'_

The vixen quickly suppressed the voice in her head, not wanting to argue with herself while there were more important matters to tend to. Stepping into her bathroom with an armful of clean pajamas, she began to look herself over in the mirror.

_'Is there something about me that's holding him back?'_

She set her clothes down, pulled off her day clothes, and turned on the water.

_'That can't be it.'_

Once inside, she closed the frosted glass door behind her.

_'Can it?'_

_/_

Nearly an hour later, Fox found himself laying awake in his bed, unable to quell his stormy thoughts.

_'Am I just afraid to love? Is that it?'_

As much as he wanted to, _something _was stopping him from telling the vixen how he truly felt.

_'We've known each other for nearly a year. Is that long enough?'  
_

_'How are you even gonna tell her?'_

_'Oh, its you again.'_

_'Who else would it be?'_

_'You're not exactly helping.'_

_'Neither are you, and you're the one who created me, dipstick.'_

The vulpine let out a sharp, frustrated sigh and sat up, letting the covers roll off of him.

_'I have to tell her eventually.'  
_

He padded over to the tall glass windows across his bedroom, and opened the door to the balcony. Raising a paw, he gently opened the latch, and quietly slid the door open. Stepping out, Fox felt the crisp winter breeze ruffle through his fur, causing his ear to twitch.

_'Jesus, Krystal. Why'd you have to be so damn beautiful?'_

The vulpine rested his arms on the balcony rail, and turned his head to look at a similar glass door leading into the adjacent room. Another three of the same tall, clear, glass doors were further down the long balcony.

Krystal's room was right next to his.

_'I hope she's getting more sleep than me, at the very least.'_

The orange mercenary turned his head back towards the view of the Cornerian city skyline, thousands of lights twinkling faintly both above and below the horizon. Unknown to him, Krystal hadn't been sleeping at all. The azure vixen was sitting on her bedside, just out of view of the large glass window leading to the balcony, listening to Fox's thoughts.

_'So it's not something about me...'_

Hearing Fox think what he thought of her cast a spell of fuzziness throughout her core, though it only lasted a few short minutes, until Fox delved into self-loathing and deprecation, angry and frustrated at himself for not being able to say three simple words to someone who he knew he could trust.

_'Look at yourself, man. You saved an entire galaxy and this is your major stumbling block?'_

_'How is this my fault? You haven't done anything to help, either!'_

_'And you can't grow the balls to tell a girl you love her! Come on!'_

Fox's pent up frustration at himself continued to build to the point where he didn't hear the glass door to the room adjacent to his quietly slide open and shut, nor the quiet pair of footsteps come up next to him.

The voice that floated into his ears cut through his frenzied thoughts and stopped them dead in their tracks.

"Is everything alright, Fox?"

Krystal could see it in his eyes that he was debating telling her what was actually on his mind.

"Y-Yeah... Just wanted to get some fresh air, I guess," he managed to stammer out.

She gave him a disbelieving look, one that she knew he could easily see under the bright moonlight. She just wanted him to spit it out, so he would stop beating himself up, so that she could finally truly be his, and he, hers.

"Are you sure nothing's wrong?"

So that they could both have someone to truly confide in.

"Positive."

So that they could both have a shoulder to cry on and a hand to hold.

"Please don't lie to me, Fox. Something's wrong, I can feel it."

That they could finally have that special someone to love, after all they've lost.

Fox shivered slightly, finally feeling the effects of the icy winter air, but refused to let himself go back inside.

_'Don't miss your chance.'_

"I can hear you arguing with yourself, you've been hurting y-mmph!"

Krystal didn't have the chance to finish her sentence, but she had no concern of doing so anyway. Fox had fully turned to face her, leaned forward and planted a quick, shy kiss on her lips before pulling away and staring into her deep aquamarine eyes, his emerald irises now holding a blazing, vibrant fire behind them.

Moments later, she heard his soft, tender voice.

"I love you, Krystal."

The words that came out of Fox's mouth had caught her off guard, even though she had been waiting for him to say it ever since they had met on that fateful day on Sauria. The vixen stood there for a few moments, watching Fox steeling himself for the almighty slap of rejection, or at the very least, Krystal saying that she was flattered, but had no interest or already lost interest in him.

_'The worst she can do is say no, right?'_

_'It's finally off your chest. That's all that matters now.'  
_

Krystal slowly moved closer to Fox and tightly embraced him, beginning to cry small tears of joy. Fox pulled her in close by wrapping his powerful arms around her lithe frame and planting his muzzle in her hair, breathing in the comforting, flower-y scent of his beloved. The vixen rested her head on his broad shoulder, feeling the warmth of his mind and soul both physically and mentally.

"I love you too, Fox," she whispered into his neck fur.

He pulled away slightly, but only enough to lock his muzzle with hers, a motion that Krystal returned with as much fervor as she could muster.

The two foxes stood on the balcony, kissing under the bright, pale blue glow of the moonlight for what could've been hours, but hadn't lasted long enough when it ended.

/

The next morning, Fox awoke with a spring in his step.

Sure, he'd become accustomed to waking up early thanks to his years of mercenary work, but the unmistakable feeling of loving someone, and having them love him back made him want to get up and run a marathon. After months of bottling it up inside himself, locking it away in the confines of his heart, and only letting it slip out into the open every once in a while had made the reward much, much greater.

A few minutes later, the vulpine had left his room, padded down the stairs, passed through the living room, and turned on the kitchen light. The pristine array of pots and pans reflected some of the light off of their shimmering stainless steel surfaces, bouncing the light across the room into different places along the walls.

Fox walked over to the pantry, and pulled out the pancake mix. Sure, it may not have been the same as the delicious, homemade, fluffy breakfast circles that his mother made for him when he was a kit, but he could never seem make them quite the same as hers, no matter how delicious his teammates thought they were. Besides, the box was getting close to running out, so he might as well use up the rest.

The vulpine poured the remainder of the box into a mixing bowl, and added some milk. After a few minutes of vigorous stirring, the contents of the stainless steel dish had transformed from a lumpy, half-wet half-dry concoction of milk and pancake mix into the smooth, creamy, golden pancake batter he knew so well.

Especially after the death of his mother, pancakes had always been comforting to him; a taste reminiscing of the good old days, back when everything seemed joyful, when a young Fox McCloud could do and be anything without a care in the world.

_If only they could see me now,_ Fox thought as he put a pan down on the stove.

His ears pricked at the soft thumps of footsteps coming down the stairs. Soon after, a blue pair of arms wrapped around him from behind, making his heart swell.

"Morning, Krys," he said softly.

The azure vixen sighed in content, and stood up on the tips of her toes to kiss his temple.

"Morning, love."

"How'd you sleep?"

Krystal squeezed him a little tighter before releasing her hold, allowing Fox to turn around and face her.

"The best I've slept for quite some time," she cooed as she snuggled up under his chin.

Fox's arms wrapped around the small of her back, pulling her in closer to his muscular frame. The two held each other for a little while longer, until the sound of Krystal's stomach grumbling filled the air. Fox gave her an amused look, and pulled away.

"I know you want to keep holding me, but I think you'd want breakfast first."

"Breakfast does sound nice right about now," Krystal admitted with a sigh as she watched Fox pour the batter into the pan.

Just then, Fox's communicator pinged. His ears instinctively swiveled towards the source of the familiar sound. A message from the General presented itself on the holographic display.

"Star Fox," Fox began reading aloud. "This mission has been highly requested for you to execute. Allies of the Cornerian Federation have been reporting a large, surprisingly organized force of pirates attacking bases, stealing cargo, etc. Should you accept, a briefing will be held today at 4:00 PM. We hope to see you there."

"Looks like we just found our next job, huh?" Came a voice from the doorway.

Fox and Krystal looked up to see Falco standing there with a sheepish look suggesting that he'd probably walked in on their moment, but didn't have the heart to interrupt.

"Hey Falco, when did you get back?"

"Came in pretty late last night, I was out clubbing with the lovely Miss Monroe," said the avian as he sat down at the kitchen island.

"Yeah, either that or you got thrown out by a bouncer again for asking the DJ to play Shiitake 9ine6ix," Fox joked as he flipped the pancakes.

"That was like two years ago, and I'm not saying that it was good music, but enough alcohol can make anything sound like it was written by Koji Kondo."

"Fair point. Either way, we've got a mission and a briefing at four."

Fox joined his two teammates at the island, and the three ate their breakfast over casual conversation, likely none of which is plot-related.

/

At 12:00 PM the following day, a dark silver LeDorean LMC-13 pulled into a hangar in the Cornerian Defense Force's airfield. As the gull-wing doors on either side opened, a pair of foxes got out, their reflections bouncing off the car's pristine stainless steel body.

Fox pulled off his sunglasses - the same ones that James had given him, to be exact - and put them in his flight jacket pocket. As he and the blue vixen he loved walked towards the other two members of their team, the car closed and locked itself, chirping twice and flashing its low beams once it had finished its operation.

"Are you done flexing your car on us?" Falco asked as he sat up from the nose of his arwing.

"Nope, not until the day I die," Fox replied with a smirk on his face.

"Judging by the lack of intel they gave us during that briefing, I'm gonna go ahead and assume that it's gonna be a month from now."

The mood quickly dropped after Falco's remark.

"Way to kill the vibe, Falco," Slippy muttered.

"What?" Falco asked. "They gave us almost nothing to work with!"

Fox sighed.

"Yeah, I hate it too, but the payout's too big to skip this one. Hey, we'll be getting to visit another system while we're at it."

Krystal hated the thought of Fox dying, but didn't show it. Now was not the place nor the time to dwell on those thoughts.

After a few more moments of uncomfortable silence, Fox spoke up again.

"Either way, we've got three and a half weeks to get there, so we'll have plenty of time for planning and prying for more intel. Let's all have a safe mission, alright?"

"Alright!" Everyone echoed.

The four pilots all headed for their arwings, save for Falco, who just leaned backward and rolled right into the synthetic leather seat of his cockpit.

Before he climbed up the side of his arwing, Fox turned to Krystal.

"Ready?" He asked her.

Krystal smiled and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "As I'll ever be."

"Hey, you two lovebirds! I'm trying to get off this rock ASAP!" Falco called out from the closing canopy of his arwing.

"Guess we'd better get going." Fox grinned. The two foxes parted, climbed into their respective fighters, and closed the glass canopies. As the engines fired up, Fox smiled as he leaned back into his seat, preparing himself for the exhilerating blast of an arwing launch rail. One by one, each blue and white star fighter taxied themselves out of the hangar and onto the launch strip.

After running his systems check, a countdown appeared on everyone's cockpit HUD.

**_Five..._**

_'Krystal, I know you can hear me.'_

**_Four..._**

_'I just wanted to say,'_

_**Three...**_

_'Be safe.'_

**_Two..._**

_'__I love you.'_

**_One._**

The launch rails shot forwards, sending the space fighters down the track and into the sky towards the _Great Fox II,_ which was patiently awaiting their return.

* * *

_\- I was really unsatisfied with this chapter in particular because my lazy ass thought I could take inspiration from the story "Heroes are made, not born" by LONEW0LF. By 'unsatisfied,' I meant 'appalled,' and by 'take inspiration,' I meant 'almost entirely rip off.' __Also, you may have noticed the omission of Beltino's death, which I think was necessary as it helps the story flow much better. I thought I could use it later in the story when I wrote the first version, but then didn't bother to go back and remove it when I ended up not using it. (sorry)_

_\- The Air/Spacecraft Launch Rail System (A/SLRS) is a type of aircraft launching system developed by Space Dynamics for the Cornerian Military. The system uses long rails with an open top that allow a vessel to take off and land at any point along the track. During a launch, an electromagnetic carriage grabs onto the craft's frame from below and pulls it forwards at a high speed, putting less stress on the frame as opposed to taking off vertically using VTOL. The railing can also be reconfigured to be positioned above the craft, such as in dreadnought carriers like the Great Fox II, or even at an upwards angle, running off of a launch pad. Essentally, the idea is that you could slap a Tornado F-3 onto a giant Estes rocket launcher and be ready for combat in a couple seconds flat. It's still faster than using VTOL.  
_

_\- VTOL: Vertical Take Off and Landing. Push button, plane goes up. Push other button, now plane goes forward. Pretty cool, right?_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter III - Enter Star Wolf (or what's left of it, lmao)  
**_

* * *

Four hundred and eighty seven billion miles away, a pair of eyes were stationed in front of a computer screen inside a dimly lit room. The only sounds available for any ears to receive would be a river of faint, mechanical tapping sounds, as well as the occasional light chatter or instruction.

The command room was a fairly sizeable room, housing about twelve people total, eleven of which were in front of workstations lining the walls, the remaining one sitting in a large chair in the center. A giant screen along the front of the room took up most of the wall space, leaving little room for natural light.

Suddenly, the voice of one of the workers broke the relative quiet.

"Sir, we've got a report from one of the stations of a battle cruiser headed this way."

The lead's head turned, brow furrowed.

"Which station?"

"Delta-one. They sent a message along with the report."

"What's it say?"

"_Probe of dreadnought GPS shows en route to main hideout. ETA one month,_" the worker read aloud.

"What kind of dreadnought?" The lead asked, now fully facing the workstation.

"One that looks like... This?"

An image of a battle cruiser displayed itself on the large viewing screen. One with four wings in a flattened X formation, a large head jutting out from the main body for the bridge, two cannons just below it, and giant green letters reading _STAR FOX_ printed on the upper body.

The head of the command room stood up from his chair, eyes still fixed on the screen. After giving a heavy sigh, he held up his communicator and tapped it to a rectangle painted onto the side of the workstation. A small _ping_ escaped from the speaker, indicating the completion of some unknown process.

A leopard in a black parka could be seen sprinting through a metal-lined tunnel, headed straight for a pair of large vertically sliding doors at the end. As soon as he tapped his ID to the scanner next to it, he was met with a blast of warmth from the other side, yet he still shivered. After going up several flights of stairs and flying through a maze of corridors, he found himself in front of a large wooden door with golden trim around it.

After taking several deep breaths, he lightly rapped on the door, opened it, and stepped inside.

A lamp and desk were standing in front of a large backed chair, pointed towards the large windows on the far side of the room.

"Boss?"

As the back of the leather chair slowly turned around, the glow from the lamp revealed the face of a lupine with a scar and patch running over his left eye.

/

Fox leaned back into the chair at his desk and let out a frustrated scowl.

The vulpine sat in his homely, familiar quarters on the _Great Fox II, _formulating a plan for infiltrating a base that he knew next to nothing about. The sad part was that, despite the nest of pirates going after Corneria and her allies for nearly half a year, the CDF still had a minimal amount of information on the base in question. The even sadder part was that even minimal seemed like an understatement.

_'Flying on minimal intel.' _Fox thought somberly as he looked up at the picture of his father on the wall.

All he had been given was a rough idea of what the base looked like from the pictures, a few bullet points about the planet, and was basically told "you do the rest." In his eyes, this was basically a giant middle finger to anyone willing to take this job, namely Star Fox. To add insult to injury, despite the Cornerian Defense Force having over a hundred thousand troops trained to use space fighters, they still have to rely on a rag-tag team of mercs with a battle cruiser.

_'Did they really need something less conspicuous than a few squadrons? Or are they just trying to offload their own dirty work?'_

All Fox could really do was draw out a plan, and hope for the best.

Hope was all he could have that himself, one of his teammates, or God forbid, _she_, wouldn't go down while fighting. Adding another name to his list of deceased loved ones was the last thing the vulpine wanted to do.

_"So, where exactly is this base located?" Slippy asked._

_One of the military personnel tapped a button on the data slate he was holding, and a picture of a snowy mountain with a few concrete protrusions displayed on the projector screen._

_"This planet is on the outer edge of the Lyra system, the star system closest to Lylat," the hound explained. "It's climate is similar to what you saw on Fichina during the Aparoid threat, only this one doesn't have a climate control center, and it's about twenty degrees colder."_

_Falco gawked at what he just heard. The avian always hated the cold, but this was just downright torture._

_"Oh, and that's without the thirty-five mile per hour winds."_

_Fox let out a whistle at the officer's explanation._

_"Looks like I'm gonna have to bring something more than a flight jacket for once."_

_A few of the higher-ups in the room chuckled. __Next, it was Krystal's turn to speak up._

_"How long would it take to reach this place?"_

_The officer tapped a few more buttons on the data slate, and the picture of the snowy mountain base was replaced by a diagram of the two star systems._

_"There's about one tenth of a light year between Lylat and Lyra, and about one twelfth between Corneria and this ice ball__. On a time scale, that's roughly one month of travel time at light speed"_

_"Pretty damn far," Falco said, leaning back in his chair. "Gonna be one hell of a speeding ticket."  
_

A light knock sounded from Fox's door, pulling him out of his deep thought. As he opened the door, he was met with the sight of his loved one, wearing an affectionate gaze and her special necklace from when Fox had rescued her off Sauria.

_'Just my luck.' _Fox thought as he smiled softly. "Hey, Krystal."

"ROB made dinner, are you coming?" She replied, pointing her thumb down the hallway.

"Food sounds real nice right now," Fox said as he stepped out of his room and slid the door shut behind him.

/

Two vulpines, one avian, and one amphibian were lounging in the common area on the _Great Fox II_, all clutching bowls of spaghetti and meatballs as they watched the TV screen across the room. A cheesy, comic-book-style action movie was playing, the kind with tons of explosions that take up the entire screen, and villains that spend way too much time monologuing.

Basically the kind of movie that almost every mercenary would share an affinity for.

Krystal had been sitting next to their captain, resting her head on his shoulder, the both of them relishing in the feeling of being close to one another.

"Hey, Fox?" came Slippy's voice from further down the couch. Fox craned his neck back slightly.

"What's up?"

"Do we even know how we're gonna blow up this fort?"

Fox, still annoyed at the lack of intel he'd been given, did his best to sound like he actually had a plan.

"I'm working on it."

"Is that your way of saying there's no plan?" Falco interrupted.

'_Shit.' _

"It's not like they gave us much information to work with."

"Then why not ask for more? There's gotta be something they're hiding from us."

"Believe me, I tried. All we've got is a few pictures and some encrypted messages the CDF intercepted." Fox replied after swallowing a mouthful of spaghetti.

Hearing the word 'encrypted' got Slippy's attention.

"I could try and unscramble them."

Fox's ears had turned forward.

"How long would that take?"

The toad got up to put his empty bowl in the sink.

"That depends, but I should have them done before we get there."

Fox nodded, and tapped a few buttons on his wrist-comm. A small chime indicated that he'd sent the files to his teammate.

"I'm gonna head to bed, goodnight guys," Slippy said as he left the common area.

The rest of the team called back with their wishes of well rest to the amphibian before returning their attention to the soon-ending movie and the rest of their dinner.

Krystal let out a content sigh as she snuggled up closer to her vulpine. Fox's strong arms gently wrapped around her, intertwining their hands together as he rested his muzzle in her hair, breathing in the wild, flower-y scent he knew all too well.

_'I can get used to this,' _the vixen mused.

/

"Finally," Fox breathed with a tired voice.

After nearly a week of examining images, data, and other statistics, he'd finally done it.

The plan was simple by design, but it was the floor plan (or lack thereof) that was the complicated part. Based on what he could gather, there weren't any direct paths to the two nuclear reactors housed underneath the base, meaning that he'd have to draw out a map for his teammates to navigate through the maze of corridors and elevators. The pictures he'd been given were extremely helpful, more so the few that had been managed to be taken from the inside by scouters.

The fact that this was eerily similar to the way James had died chilled him to the bone, slowly eating away at his peace of mind. As much as he wanted to drop the mission, the team really needed the money, as repairs and upgrades had gotten much more expensive over the years.

He now lay on his bed, his fuzzy head resting on a pillow, and his rough hands underneath it. This could end up being the way he died, or even worse, the way _she _died; Something that he would inevitably blame himself for.

A light knock came from his door.

"Come in." Fox called in a tired voice.

The door slid open, revealing the blue vixen Fox was thinking about.

Normally, her presence was enough to lighten his mood, but the situation at hand made it hard to keep his head level.

"Everything alright, Fox?" She asked in a concerned tone.

"No," Fox mumbled, muffled by his pillow.

"Well, then talk to me. I'll listen," Krystal responded as she stepped inside. The door slid shut behind her with a soft _hiss._

Fox turned over so that he was lying on his back.

"You ever get the feeling something bad is going to happen?"

"You do realize who you're asking, right?"

"That's not my point. This is how my dad died, taking a mission he desperately needed the money for and going in on minimal information."

"Oh." Krystal's amused expression quickly changed.

She walked over to his bed and sat down next to him, leaning back on her azure arms.

"I'm really worried about everyone's safety," he murmured, his eyes holding a downcast, worried expression.

"Then we'll have to fight as hard as we can. We can't change what's going to happen, but we _can_ prepare for it." She said as she put her hand on top of his, squeezing it slightly.

Fox couldn't help but get a feeling that there was something else she wanted to ask. That, and she seemed to have a little bit of pink just barely peeking through the white fur on her delicate face. He sat up and crossed his legs, turning so that he was facing her directly.

"Alright... So what did you want?"

Krystal raised an eyebrow in confusion before she realized what he'd meant. Her face lowered slightly in bashfulness, like a child that had just been caught eating from the cookie jar.

"Can I... sleep with you tonight?"

Fox was a bit surprised at this, the sudden jump in his tail being a dead giveaway, but he welcomed it. A blush crossed his muzzle as he answered.

"You may, Krystal."

The vixen let out a light giggle at his antics, and left to take a shower and change. Fox let out a happy sigh as he closed the door to his bathroom, readying himself for the night to come.

About fifteen minutes later, Krystal stepped out of her room, and closed the door behind her. She couldn't help but let an excited smile cross her face.

When she got to Fox's door, though, she hesitated.

_'He's probably tired of me knocking on his door all the time,' _she thought as she remembered all the times she had to ask him for his help on their return trip to Corneria. Coping with the loss of family was one thing, but the destruction of your entire planet was another.

_'Then again, Fox had always been happy to help...'_

Just as she raised her paw to knock on the door, it opened for her. Fox was inside, wearing a pair of soft camouflage pajama pants and a white t-shirt, as well as his typical goofy smirk.

"You don't _really _have to knock, you know."

Krystal merely responded by wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly, the two of them giggling while Fox picked her up and brought her inside.

/

_ETA To Star Fox Arrival: 8 Days, 2 Hours, 6 Minutes._

Wolf O'Donnell turned off the computer, and stared at his resentful expression on the now blank monitor. His entire team had been killed by that band of mercenaries, and now it seemed is if they would always find a way to foil his plans, no matter where he went. One thing he wondered was why every time Fox McCloud had come so close to killing him, he never did.

As much as Wolf liked a challenge while fighting their long-lasting rivalry, it was becoming clear that unless he killed the orange mercenary first, Fox would kill him. Their most recent scuffles had gotten deadlier and deadlier each time.

He opened his desk drawer, and disconnected a blaster from its charging cable as he pulled it out. He smiled maliciously at it, and holstered it as he got up from his desk. Walking down to the main area from his office, he saw a bunch of the nut jobs that were crazy enough to work under him bustling about, trying to take care of readying defenses for the coming threat.

He pulled up his communicator, and sent a message to his second-in-command.

_Relay this message to everyone. I want all of Star Fox captured, especially the orange one. If any of you kill them I will execute you myself._

He hit send, and started down the hall towards the hangar. When he stepped through the metal door, he was met with a giant white screen, shielding someone from viewing whatever was behind it. When he stepped around it, he saw a large barrel with a coil running around it, mounted atop a circular base. A chair was attached to the contraption holding the barrel up, so that whoever was using the machine could see where it was aiming.

"Come and get me, Star Fox. I'm waiting." Wolf said with a dark smile as he left the hangar. A sign could be seen next to the gigantic screen shielding the contraption from view with big, bold letters on it.

_Kinetic Railgun - Prototype #4_  
_No touchy! (Especially you, Brad!)  
_

* * *

_\- There are roughly __588 billion miles between the centers of the Lylat and Lyra star systems, which equates to about 1/10 of a light year. Because the planet is on the edge of the system, the distance they need to travel is only about 1/12 of a light year, or one light month, which is about 487 billion miles. I would have made them fly faster than light, but I feel like the max speed of a dummy thicc dreadnought like the Great Fox II should be a light speed at most. That, and I find doing the math for something like this to be somewhat enjoyable._

_\- If any of you have seen the movie Hidden Figures, Falco's last remark at the briefing should sound pretty familiar._

_\- The reason why Brad isn't allowed to touch the railgun is kinda like "The Noodle Incident" from Calvin and Hobbes. _


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter IV - Backup  
**_

* * *

The briefing room on board the _Great Fox II _was a sizeable space with a sleek, minimalist design. Except for the crew quarters, most of the rooms and corridors aboard the _Great Fox II _were encompassed by a cold, silver plating on each side. The briefing room, however, had darker matte gray paneling, dotted by large tiles of sound dampeners along the walls.

A black microphone on a metal stant sat pointing straight upwards in the center of the smooth, rectangular mahogany table, picking up every instruction, discussion, conference and meeting that took place in the room. A small wire ran under the table and into the floor, carrying the recordings of every sound it heard towards an antenna before it was fired off into the endless void of space.

Fox McCloud sat at the head of the table, followed by the rest of his team, everyone's eyes on the holographic display. The projection of General Pepper's head floated freely in front of the wall as he filled them in.

"Our scout that returned when you left has managed to uncover some information that should prove quite useful," the General explained.

Pepper's head floated to the right, and several images appeared next to him.

"Here's a floor plan of the entire base, including diagrams of the reactor," the hound said simply, making Fox's eyes widen slightly.

Krystal, sitting across from him, noticed this, and peered into his mind, only to find two words echoing through his head.

_'Spot. On.'_

The hideout's construction was quite simple, really. In order to make the base blend in more with its surroundings, the majority of it was actually just a bunch of tunnels connected together with large spaces in between. This made the snowfall from the frequent blizzards pile up unevenly from the gaps in between the corridors, making it look like it was just a rocky surface underneath. Had it been just one giant rectangle, the snow would have piled up in one central location, most of it spilling down the sides, essentially making a small mountain of snow in one very conspicuous location.

Though the layout of the base was pretty much redundant at this point, Fox wasn't about to turn down a freebie.

_'The reactor diagram should be pretty helpful, too.'_

"I'll say, I wasn't expecting that, but we'll take what we can get. Is there anything else you wanted to tell us?"

"Not at the moment, I'll have my officers contact you if something else comes up."

"Alright. Thanks, General," Fox said as he ended the call. The hologram faded out, leaving a blank wall for everyone to stare at for a few moments before Fox did a small spin in his chair and faced the table.

"Did you find anything in those messages, Slippy?" Fox asked.

"Yeah, you're not gonna believe who's behind all this." The amphibian said sarcastically.

"Let me guess... Wolf?"

"Bingo."

"Great... Now he's got a base on some random planet. Anything else we should be worried about?"

"There was a few mentions of some kind of prototype tossed around," Slippy said uneasily. "This could be some kind of weapon... Or worse."

Fox sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Why didn't you tell us this earlier?"

"I wasn't expecting you to end the call with Pepper so early!" Slippy replied, hands coming up defensively.

"Question." Falco said.

"Yes?"

"What exactly _are _we going to be doing in there?"

"Glad you asked," Fox started as he got up and pressed a button on a control panel down towards the end. A small chime indicated that the ship's AI was now listening for a command.

"ROB, pull up the battle plan."

The metallic, modulated voice of ROB 64 flooded the room from a speaker in the ceiling.

"Affirmative, Fox. Displaying battle plan on briefing room table."

Several arrays of cameras, holographic projectors, and other sensors mounted above the table instantly lit up a few moments later, causing a bright, pellucid white grid to cover the mahogany table. After several loading bars had finished their small journey, the grid filled out into a solid sheet, and an outline in the shape of the floor plan the General had sent them rose from the table in three dimensions, flickering slightly as most holograms tended to.

Fox tapped a button projected onto the tabletop, and the base exploded into cross-sections each floor now standing upright as a blueprint in midair.

"Here's the ground floor," the vulpine explained as he traced out a path through the tunnels with his finger. A small red line appeared on the projection, trailing closely behind his finger like an Arwing chasing a Venomian fighter.

"We'll be splitting into teams of two; Falco and Slippy, you'll be infiltrating the server room to make sure they don't know we're in there. Krystal, you're with me, we're going after the reactor itself," he finished. A solid red and blue line ran from the side entrance, splitting away towards the destination of each group.

"Okay, but what do we _do_ once we get there?" Falco asked impatiently.

"Slip, I don't care what you do in there so long as they don't know what we're doing until the very last second. Falco, you'll be covering for him. If need be, do what you need to do."

The avian smirked and let out a small chuckle, and the amphibian gave a thumbs-up in response.

Fox tapped another button, and the floor plans slid off to the side, making room for the newly acquired diagrams of the reactors to appear in the center.

"The maintenance hatch for the reactors is further up the mountain, about a two-hundred foot climb," the vulpine continued, an aerial view of the mountain confirming his statement.

"We'll need to get inside, attach an antimatter charge to the reactor core, and blow the place off the map once we're out."

Just then, a morbid thought came to Krystal's mind.

"What happens if one of us gets hit... or worse?"

Everyone looked at the blue vixen with solemn expressions. The mood had dropped like an Arwing without its G-Diffuser to hold itself up.

"Standard protocol for losing a teammate in battle is to... well... leave them behind." Slippy said eventually.

Krystal was speechless. She couldn't imagine a team going into battle, and the rest leaving a fallen teammate behind. Back on Cerinia, warriors killed in battle were always brought back to be buried, no matter the cost. Respect for the fallen was always kept, even if it meant sacrificing resources to get them home to the families that mattered to them.

Fox hated this procedure the most.

_'It's the reason why dad's grave is empty.'_

It was the reason why he could only stare at an empty coffin at his father's funeral after Peppy had returned with the news that they'd been betrayed by Pigma, and James died in an explosion of both his Arwing being shot to pieces, as well as it crashing into the surface of Venom. Fox spent years scouring every inch of the wretched planet's surface, hoping to find something, _anything_ that would give him something to bury back home.

Every time, he'd come up empty-handed, with nothing but a red scarf and what few memories he had to comfort him.

Trying to change the subject matter, the vulpine pushed the painful memories out of his head.

"I want all of you to bring your A game. We don't really know what we're dealing with, and I'd prefer to come back to a live crew than a dead one. I'll shoot a message to Pepper and ask for some backup, but don't be surprised if we have to get ourselves out of a jam. This meeting is now dismissed." He said, well aware that even his non-telepathic teammates could tell what he was thinking about.

Falco and Slippy got up to leave, but Krystal stayed behind.

"What's up, Krys?" Fox asked as he stared out the window.

The azure vixen walked over to him and embraced him in a tight hug.

"If you need anything, just know that I'm here for you, just as you were there for me," she said softly into his ear.

Fox smiled, and put his hands over hers.

"I know, its one of the many reasons why I love you."

Hearing Fox say that made her flutter a little, even if it had been already established. After she and her beloved captain held each other for a little while longer, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek before she left to go get ready for bed.

As the last of his teammates left the room, Fox pressed the button for ROB on the control panel once more. The same chime from earlier played from above.

"ROB, clear the table for me, and send a message to General Pepper."

The AI's voice responded as the lights from the hologram covering the table slowly faded out from corner to corner.

"Understood. What should the title of the message be?"

The vulpine paused for a moment, then said one word.

"Backup."

/

A vulpine couple sat in their living room on Corneria, enjoying what little downtime they got from their constant workload. The man, his fur dyed a deep Egyptian blue, with hints of orange stripes running across his arms and legs, was sitting on a couch with his arm around his wife, a vixen with fur dyed a bright orange accompanied by blue stripes peeking through the color on her back and arms. The two were mercenaries, like Star Fox, but only worked alongside each other; A team consisting of only a husband and wife, out kicking ass across the galaxy together.

A small buzzing noise emanated from a small end table to the left of the couch, causing both of their ears to perk up and swivel towards the familiar sound. The man begrudgingly let go of his wife, and reached over to pick up his communicator. Pressing the button to answer the call, the living room was flooded with the monotone voice of a computer-generated message.

"You are requested to meet General Pepper for a briefing in two hours. While we apologize for the short notice, this mission has been rated as "high priority." Please bring your identification with you to the Cornerian Defense Force headquarters so that you can be given clearance upon arrival."

The man looked up at his wife as the message replayed itself, and smirked.

"Looks like we're needed for something important."

The vixen turned to face her husband on the couch and smiled.

"Such is the life of a military contractor."

/

A little over an hour later, the two pulled into their driveway in a jet black SUV.

"I'll grab our gear. Fire up the _Wyvern _and I'll see you in a few." The woman said before opening the door and walking quickly into the house.

The man nodded, and got out of the car. He jogged over to the hangar next to their house, and turned off a pump on the wall. After flipping a few more switches, the lights came on, and a giant fighter craft became visible under the sharp glow of the incandescent lights high above him.

The _Wyvern_ was a custom fighter jet that only seated two people, but could fly at insanely high speeds. Two large wings stuck out from either side, swept forward and bent to form a W shape across the entire wingspan, accompanied by two smaller wings just in front of them, as well two tail fins in the rear. Despite most liquid fueled spacecraft being replaced by their fuel cell powered counterparts nowadays, these two mercenaries have had this fighter for over two decades, and refused to get rid of it until someone got lucky in shooting it down, not to be shot by them soon after in revenge for their prized spacecraft.

The man's wife came out of the house holding two duffel bags containing rifles, medical supplies, and other munitions. After she tossed them into the fighter's cargo bay and shut it, the two climbed into the cockpit and closed the canopy. A welcome message displayed itself on the HUD as the engines began to fire up.

_Retinal Scan Confirmed.  
Welcome, Troy and Madison Groomes._

* * *

_\- If I had to pick a voice model for an upgraded ROB, it would probably be the ship's AI assistant from Time Machine VR (also named Rob, funnily enough), or, for a hyper-realistc, way-too-human-sounding one, the "Orange" voice preset for the Google Assistant. If any of you have a Google Home or an Android phone, you'll know what I mean._

_\- The Wyvern is based on the X-02 Strike Wyvern from Ace Combat 7. I've finally unlocked it, but it'll be flying just a little bit faster than its rated top speed of Mach 2.5. (By faster, I mean we're slapping an FTL drive in this bad boy and they're gonna catch up to Star Fox in about a day. Remember, the Great Fox II can only travel up to light speed. Also, it should be noted that FTL drives/Warp drives use their own separate power cell, especially if the vessel is liquid fueled.)  
_

_\- OC's belong to Troy Groomes. Also, I blame him for being the reason I bought Ace Combat 7. Somebody do me a favor and ask him if the color of the sky means anything. (Adios, you damn fool!)  
_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter V - Touchdown  
**_

* * *

Fox and his team were in the armory of the _Great Fox II_, readying themselves for a mission in the frostbitten, snowy lands of an unknown, distant planet. Everyone had been wearing several layers, including thick, fluffy jackets and fabric masks for the lower half of their faces. Maybe it had just been the lack of information during their initial briefing, but knowing that he could possibly die on this mission, the same way his father did, leaving his friends to mourn over an empty grave was enough to give Fox chills, even in his layers of protective gear.

"We're gonna do fine, Fox." Krystal said with a smile as she pulled him out of his thoughts with a tight hug.

Fox put an arm around her back, and beeped their noses together. The small smile he wore was all she needed to know that at the very least he agreed.

"Everyone ready?" Fox said as he picked up his munitions bag.

His teammates all nodded in affirmation, and everyone headed for the hangar. After several minutes of waking, the door to the hangar opened and closed with a quiet _hiss_, revealing the four Arwing star fighters docked and ready to roll.

"Remember, only use your communicator until we're on the ground and keep your arwing's stealth mode engaged. They're probably already trying to track our signals down there. Your survival is priority number one, this mission comes second. Hopefully you all remember your roles because I'm not going over the plan a second time."

All four members of Star Fox began climbing into their respective arwings, the glass canopies hissing quietly as they shut. The latches closed and locked with an audible _click._

Once he knew his team was ready, Fox hit the button to launch his arwing, and everyone else did the same. One by one, the four space fighters rocketed out of the _Great Fox_, forming up as they quickly made their way towards the snowy planet they were orbiting. Fox glanced up at his stealth switch, making sure he was being cloaked from all radar, sonar, and missile targeting system, aside from the naked eye. Flying through the atmosphere, he felt the jarring turbulence try to shake him from his seat, only being counteracted by the leather straps.

After the flames lapping at the edges of his fighter had begun to dissipate, Fox broke through the cloud line, as did the rest of his team, following closely behind him in a tight diamond formation. After a few miles of flying through pure white, Falco split off to head to his entry point, Slippy tailing behind him. As Fox began descending towards the surface, a small clearing in the miles of forest below them presented itself, to which Fox switched his VTOL on and closed the remaining vertical distance between his craft and the icy, frozen ground.

A couple seconds after he popped his canopy, Krystal's arwing gently touched down next to him, the whine of the engines slowly dying down as she began climbing out of her cockpit. As Fox jumped down from the nose of his craft, the cargo bay opened, revealing a munitions bag with his blaster, ice climbing equipment, a pair of binoculars, a couple water bottles, medical supplies, and an antimatter charge with a small display on its side with the words _"ARM WHEN READY_._"_

When Fox looked up, Krystal had already jumped out of her fighter and was a small distance away from him, looking around at the pristine landscape. With her bag slung over her shoulder, she jerked her head slightly in the direction of the mountain, motioning for him to catch up.

"And so it begins," the vulpine murmured under his mask.

A sheer cliff loomed over them, marking the service hatch and their entrance to the fortress. A few feet away from the face of the cliff, Fox dropped his bag. Opening it he pulled out a set of crampons to fit around his metal combat boots, two picks, a set of spikes, a and a lengthy spool of rope. Krystal did the same, and they both began quickly hammering the spikes into the cliff side. A few minutes later, Fox turned and began walking away from the cliff, back the way they came.

"Where are you going, Fox?" The azure vixen called.

"I'll show you in a second," he responded as he pulled two poles out of his bag, both much larger than the spikes they were shoving into the cliff face.

After driving the metal poles into the ground and making sure they were secure, he turned Krystal, who had walked up next to him.

"What are these for?" She asked.

"It's basically our main escape plan," Fox started as he handed her a spool of steel cable. "We'll be attaching the ends of these at the top in order to slide down them once we're done."

She nodded, and attached the cabling to her belt, and began unwinding it as she trudged back to the cliff through the thick snow. After waiting for her captain to catch up to her, they grabbed their picks and began to scale the face of the tall cliff.

/

A few minutes after Fox and Krystal began their climb, Falco and Slippy had made their touchdown. After looping wide around the base and flying way too close to the ground for comfort, they'd landed in a patch of forest about half a mile off to the side of the main entrance. As soon as they jumped out of their cockpits and grabbed their supplies, the two began approaching the edge of the treeline, revealing a giant mountain as well as the hangar to Wolf's hideout.

The avian stopped, and placed a feathered finger to his headset.

"Fox, come in. Have you reached the service hatch?"

A few moments of silence ensued, followed by the vulpine's voice.

_"We're about halfway up the cliff side, let us know when you're in the server room."_

"Wilco. Falco, out."

The toad standing next to him had been tapping away at his wrist comm, pulling up their route to the server room. A small string of _beeps_ and _bloops_ echoed back as Slippy's leathery fingers pointed to different buttons and settings on the holographic display. After a few more moments of Falco staring down the base in the distance and Slippy poking around on his communicator, the avian felt his teammate tap their forearms together. With a flick of his wrist, the hologram lit up above Falco's combat glove, small shadow-y lines appearing here and there as snowflakes passed in front of the beam projector.

Slippy pulled the white hood over his head and started through the snow. After brushing some fallen snow off of his plumage, Falco did the same and ran to catch up to him.

/

After almost twenty minutes of straight climbing, Fox pulled himself over the edge of the cliff, panting heavily as he threw himself towards the stable flat surface ahead of him that he had been waiting for. Not soon after, a pair of hands encased in combat gloves appeared on the edge of the cliff, gripping the solid rock as hard as they could as their owner heaved themselves up over the ledge.

Krystal rolled over on her back as she let out labored breaths, her lungs not having been acclimated to higher elevation quite as well as her captain's.

"When's our backup supposed to arrive?" Asked the vixen, staring into the cold, gray sky.

Fox pulled back a sleeve and checked his communicator. "Hopefully within the next hour or so. I'm just hoping they'll show up in time." He replied. "In the meantime, pass me your return cable."

Krystal reached down to her belt, and handed the vulpine the remaining amount of steel cable, about twelve feet. He drew a silver tube from his jacket, about one foot in length and with three buttons and a large slot on the side. Fox slid her cable into one end of the tube, pressed the button on the corresponding side, and waited a few moments until a loud clicking sound came from the device. After tugging on it to make sure it wouldn't slip, he turned and looked behind him.

A few yards away from them was a rock formation stretching vertically towards the sky, one that appeared to have enough girth to hold a considerable weight. Fox decided that it would do, and pulled the remaining cable around the towering section of stone.

After attaching his cable to the device and securing it, Fox pushed the third button in the center, and watched as the cable was pulled through the slot in the side of the tube, pulling the line tighter and tighter until it finally stopped with a small _beep._

The two cables flying down over the ledge were now pulled taut, ready for their owners to use them for a quick getaway.

/

After a few minutes of trudging through the snow, Falco and Slippy neared a runway full of people and aircraft bustling about. They hid behind some large wooden crates, and Slippy pulled out the map of the building on his communicator.

"Looks like we'll need to get someone's card in order to get in," Falco said, observing the side entrance from behind the giant crates. He glanced over to his left, and saw someone walking towards them, hopefully for a reason other than their presence. The avian's heart rate instantly picked up, and quickly elbowed Slippy to get his attention.

The amphibian looked up from the holographic blue screen of his communicator, and peeked around the large wooden containers. Seeing as someone could easily compromise their position so early sent him into a panic. As the figure got closer and closer, Falco had to do some quick thinking. He could knock them out, which could probably buy them enough time to get inside the building before he woke back up, or he could just kill him and save the sentimentality for later.

Remembering his Captain's explicit instructions to "do what you need to do," Falco chose the latter. As whoever it was coming closer and closer to them rounded the crates, he kicked his leg out, hitting them in the shin and dropping them to the ground so he could throw him in a headlock and slap a feathered hand over their mouth before they could react.

After a mere split second, Falco knew what he had to do. His iron grip around the animal's neck tightened as he planted one hand on their chin, and the other on their temple. After a quick twist of his hands, a sickening _crack_ rang out from the victim's neck as his spine shattered and cut through his brain stem.

Slippy watched the whole event unfold in a matter of seconds, his eyes still wide even after Falco had just neutralized the threat.

After a few moments of silence, the avian looked up at the shocked amphibian.

"What?"

Slippy shook his head and exhaled. Sure, the people they killed on missions were criminals, but taking someone's life was much easier to cope with when you did it from the confines and safety of a cockpit, when you couldn't see their eyes go wide the moment they realized that they were no longer to be allowed to live another day, or when you didn't do it at an arm's length.

Falco closed the unresponsive eyelids with a heavy sigh and looked over the victim of his actions. A simian of fairly thin stature, seemed to be in his late twenties and sporting several scars along his face. Down on his belt was a small plastic card with two red lines on it. A small string of numbers was written next to the pistripes, indicating some form of identification.

After grabbing the card off the body's belt, Falco raised a finger to his ear.

"Falco here. We've got access to the building. We'll be in the server room shortly."

_"Copy that. Everything looks good from up here."_

* * *

_\- Wlico: Short for "Will Comply," typically used in the military to convey that the message or assignment has been received, understood, and will be carried out accordingly.  
_

_\- A Return Cable is typically used when one needs to get down a high surface quickly after climbing it. After securing one end to the ground, the user begins to climb, the spool unrolling on its own as they get higher. At the top, it can be secured to a second point, turning it into a makeshift zip-line. When using two return cables, the lines can be joined together and hung around a large section of rock, eliminating the need to drive a post into the ground to secure it to. _

_\- Encrypted Near Field Communication or E-NFC is one of the primary methods for small devices like the wrist-mounted communicator to share small amounts of information. The donor device begins generating a small field at a specific, encrypted frequency - one that must be matched by the recipient for any data transfer to take place. When the devices are placed close enough together, the information passes through the field in a fraction of a second. Additionally, the frequency can be adjusted to precise figures for additional security, with newer designs allowing accuracy down to the hundred-thousandth of a hertz (0.00001 Hz)._


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter VI - Blackout  
**_

* * *

Slippy sat at a large, flashy computer station in a room lined with racks of servers with cables running everywhere, typing furiously. Across the room in a swirly chair sat a lone operator, tied up with a few hundred feet of ethernet cables and unconscious.

Falco took one last peek outside, and shut the door. A small _click _from the handle indicated that no one would be getting in any time soon. The avian brought a feathered finger to his earpiece, and glanced over at Slippy who gave him a thumbs-up.

"Falco here. We're in."

/

Fox and Krystal stepped up to a large, rectangular box about the size of the phone booth, the sides of which had a few feet of snow piled around it. A large metal door stood proudly on one side, promptly denying access to anyone from the outside.

_But on the inside, however..._

The vulpine pressed a finger to his ear, and radioed to his teammates.

"Slippy, I'm gonna need a door opened."

Not long after came the toad's reply.

"What's the password?"

Krystal's bemused giggling floated through the icy air into his ears. The vulpine let out a frustrated sigh, but decided to play along.

"Gyro bad, arwings rad."

The large door slid open slowly, the metal on the sides groaning in protest after being atrophied from a prolonged lack of use. After a few seconds of covering their sensitive ears, the passageway stood fully open, like a beast's mouth waiting for its prey to walk right in to its demise. Fox glanced over to his blue teammate, who gave a small nod.

"Convenient, isn't it?" Krystal mused.

"Very."

The vulpine and the vixen slowly stepped into the small corridor, both drawing their weapons in preparation for anything or anyone to come their way.

"The security feeds are running blank loops, just stay on the path and you won't get noticed," came Slippy's voice once more.

"Copy that, imposing radio silence until further notice."

Fox and Krystal came to a longer hallway running perpendicular to the passageway they came in from. After sneaking through the main hallway, they stopped at a door labelled _REACTOR __MAINTENANCE. _The orange vulpine opened the door and walked inside, his blue teammate following closely behind. After another short hallway, they were met with some sort of control deck, shielded by several thick panes of glass, behind which was a large cylindrical room with a giant nuclear reactor inside. Before any of the technicians could notice the two mercenaries walking in to destroy their base, Krystal picked up on their brain patterns and pulled Fox back into the small corridor between the main hallway and the control deck. Not wanting to make any noise, she spoke to him telepathically.

_'There's about seven of them in there. What should we do?'_

_'We'll have to kill them. It would take too long to knock them all out before any of them sound an alarm,' Fox thought back._

Krystal gave Fox a grim expression, and nodded.

_'I'll get the four on the left, you take the three on the right,' _he said.

The two drew their blasters and quietly stepped into the control room, guns raised and fingers trained. They both went after their respective targets, taking no more than one shot for each. Accuracy with a handgun was a skill Fox had taken years to perfect, and had spent plenty of time training Krystal. Once the seven technicians were all dead, Fox checked the hallway to make sure nobody had noticed and come to investigate.

They were in the clear, and Fox dropped his bag on the floor. He pulled the bomb out, and began typing into the keypad on the top of it. Now realizing why the glass panes were there in the first place, he mentally facepalmed. A nuclear reactor was radioactive, and he needed a protective suit. Krystal seemed to understand what was going through his head, and checked a nearby closet for anything useful.

Opening the door revealed a yellow suit, with a large opening in the back that could close in and encapsulate the wearer. Fox craned his neck slightly to see past his blue teammate in to the closet, and smiled.

"Bingo."

Fox pulled his coat off, and began slipping into the protective clothing. He nodded to Krystal, and stepped through the door to the reactor room. He walked through a glass tunnel, with a door at the end opening up as the one to the control room closed. The vulpine made their way towards the gigantic reactor, a sickly green glow emanating from several parts of the tall structure. Fox walked to one side of the reactor and looked down.

A large pool filled to the brim with water, about twenty feet deep and with a glowing spot towards the bottom sat just below him. Fox looked at it for a few seconds, then turned away slightly. Krystal had been watching the outer hallway from the control room, and felt a knot of fear settle in her stomach at her teammates' conversation.

"Fox here. I'm at the reactor."

"Copy. Have you planted the charge?"

"Negative. Is there any way you can shut it off without anyone noticing?"

"Why?"

"I'm about to do something incredibly stupid."

Slippy sighed and laughed.

"Certainly won't be the last time, either. Give me a second."

Fox brought his hand down from his ear, and looked up at Krystal through the window. Confusion and anxiety was written on her face.

_'You're not actually going down there, are you?'_

_'Not until Slippy ca-_

The sound of an emergency alarm began blaring, startling the both of them. Several red beacons began rotating, casting sections of the room in a menacing, red glow.

_'Well, I sure won't be going down there now, will I?' _Thought the vulpine as he mashed a green button on the antimatter charge. The device gave a loud _chirp, _and Fox tossed it in the reactor's coolant tank and bolted for the door without a second thought. With any luck, it would settle down right next to the fuel rods, where he planned to put them in the first place.

Once out, Fox ripped the suit off of his body, and threw his coat back on. The voice of the toad at the computer station came over the comm.

"So, there may be a slight problem..."

"You haven't changed a bit, frog boy," Falco scoffed as he checked his blaster's charge.

"We've got no time to waste, let's move!" Fox barked over the radio.

/

The two vulpines made a break out the service hatch towards the spot where their return lines were set up, sprinting and panting all the way. Fox jabbed his earpiece, hoping that his other two teammates got out alive.

"Falco, Slippy, status report."

After a few anxious moments of waiting, Falco's voice came over the line.

"We're fine. Me and Butterfingers managed to slip out in the chaos."

"Hey!" The toad exclaimed.

Fox shot Krystal a smirk, her melodious laugh always managed to lighten the mood for him.

They both neared the edge of the cliff where they had climbed up, the return lines they had set up were calling out to them, encouraging them to grab on and slide down to safety. As they got closer and closer, Fox bent his knees at the last second...

And jumped.

The vulpine soared through the air, watching the taut steel cable of his return line getting closer and closer until he grabbed on to it, his legs swinging out in front of him from the speed of his exit. The kevlar and metal casing around his combat gloves spewed sparks behind him, the loud grinding noise barely reaching his ears from the wind of him flying down the cabling.

When the orange mercenary and his blue teammate reached the ground, neither of them bothered to look back as they sprinted for their arwings, neither of them seeing the livid Wolf O'Donnell standing over the edge of the cliff behind, watching the two of them before turning away and tapping a button on his communicator.

"Bring out the railgun. It's time for some target practice."

/

As the four white and blue arwings rose from the snowy surface, nobody had noticed the large metallic beam cannon being wheeled out of the giant hangar doors on a military truck. Wolf sat in the shotgun seat, a small screen in front of him displaying bits of information about the targets that the husky in the driver's seat was chasing down. As the truck entered the wasteland ahead of the base, several antennas slowly deployed from atop the truck's cabin. O'Donnell watched as four lines visualizing the intercepted transmissions slowly became brighter and brighter, just loud enough to be heard over the roaring engine.

"-ohoo! That was a close one!" Came a high-pitched voice, most likely which belonged to Slippy. Wolf scrolled down one more line to the next transmission, which turned out to be Falco.

"No thanks to you, froggie. We barely got out of there without gettin' our asses handed to us."

"That's enough, guys. We've only got one thing left to do before we're out of here."

Wolf's glare hardened at the new voice's owner, and tapped a button next to the display. A head-up display powered on, and a small orange triangle appeared over Fox's arwing.

"Light 'em up, ROB!"

"Affirmative, Fox. Transmitting blast command."

The lupine smirked. That wasn't going to work. A small text box appeared in the lower right corner of the windshield, indicating that the truck's hardpoint had been deployed. The railgun on the back began emitting a menacing red aura.

Silence, then,

"Nothing's happened."

"No shit, Slippy."

"Shut it, both of you! Someone's probably caught onto us and jammed the signal."

The cockpit's computer then read out the last thing the vulpine wanted to hear.

"Ship scan detected," the computerized voice droned.

"We're being targeted! Set your G-Diffusers to max!"

Each teammate responded with their own "roger," resulting in the four ships flying at breakneck pace away from the base and up towards the atmosphere. As Fox began to line up with the escape vector highlighted on the the HUD, things only managed to get worse.

"Warning; projectile inboun-"

The railgun fired its payload at a resounding speed, catching up to Fox's arwing at slamming into it with a deafening _BOOM_.

"FOX!" His teammates screamed in unison. Krystal watched in despair as she chased her captain's ship plummeting to the ground, only to be stopped by Falco.

"Krystal, don't! You're gonna get shot down too!"

The azure vixen ignored his warning as she spotted a large military truck with some sort of launcher on the back, and raced towards it as her hardpoints began deploying.

Off in the distance, the distinct sound of a fighter jet screaming across the sky was heard by Falco and Slippy. The avian looked over to see a gray aircraft, a bit wider than his arwing, but with its wings swept forward to make a large W across the body.

"This is Star Fox, state your purpose!" The avian yelled over the open channel.

A man's voice responded, calculated and professional.

"Troy and Madison Groomes, at your service. We're here to help."

/

Fox shook himself out of his dazed state when he heard another deafening _BOOM_ similar to the one he'd heard when he got shot down.

_'No...'_

Ignoring the excruciating pain in his left leg and the massive headache from the whiplash, the vulpine pulled the emergency release to his canopy, and looked over to see Krystal's arwing nose down in the snow.

_'NO!'_

Fox fell from his cockpit and slowly pulled himself back up before he began limping over to the other spacecraft. Behind him, he heard the snow crunching under boots, and his blood ran cold. His eyes widened, and he tried to move faster to get away from his adversary, even if he knew it was futile.

_BANG_

A laser bolt flew through his shoulder, causing the vulpine to fall onto his knees; A laser shot that Fox was sure Wolf hadn't set hot enough so that it couldn't cauterize the wound on its way out. Fox yelped in pain and brought his hand up to his shoulder, watching as blood began leaking in between his fingers and staining his clothes. As Wolf neared him, the lupine kicked his opponent in the back, sending McCloud into the snow. Fox felt himself being rolled over by Wolf's boot, and looked up to see a blaster at his head. O'Donnell brought his boot back and slammed it into Fox's side, earning a sickening _crack _and a pained groan from the vulpine on the ground.

Before he could pull the trigger, a loud, fiery explosion sounded off from the base in the distance, causing smoke and ash to rain down in every direction. Despite the circumstances, Fox managed a smirk.

"You have no idea... how long I've waited to do this."

He held his finger down on the trigger, charging up a shot.

"Say hello to James for me," the lupine chuckled as his blaster flashed, indicating the shot was fully charged.

Fox closed his eyes. He grit his teeth, waiting for the feeling of having a laser zip right through his head, melting through his skull and brain in a split second, most likely leaving him feeling nothing but pure pain while his brain slowly ceased to function, until he was granted the sweet release of death.

However, the moment never came. The sweet sound of aircraft machine gun fire coupled with Wolf gasping for air as the lead ripped through his flesh would have been music to his ears if the continuous ringing hadn't been growing louder by the second.

Fox opened his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Wolf on the ground with a few more holes in him. A ship made a fast VTOL landing nearby, and an orange vulpine with a few blue streaks jumped out, landing gracefully and sprinting towards him. Just behind him, another vulpine joined him, or it was a vulpine as far as he could tell; His vision had been steadily becoming blurrier and his eyes becoming increasingly heavy from the blood loss.

"McCloud! Are you alive!?" Troy yelled, nearing the downed mercenary. He pulled out a gauze pad, and started trying stop the blood with it. If he could get the wound to clot, Fox would be alive long enough to get him more serious medical attention.

"Fox, talk to me. Can you hear me?" He asked.

A thumbs-up was all Fox could muster before he blacked out.

* * *

_\- The way blasters work, or at least how I imagine they could work, is by firing heated plasma bolts; kinda like pelting someone with lightsaber chunks. The hotter the plasma bolt, the easier it melts through whatever (or whoever) it is you're shooting, cauterizing the wound. If you fire a bolt at a lower temperature, the plasma can't melt the wound shut on the way out, leaving a sizzling, bloody, gaping hole instead of just a sizzling, gaping hole.  
_

_\- Hardpoint: A location on an airframe designed to carry an external or internal load. Basically, it's where you put the guns._

_\- If ROB is the voice for the Great Fox I/II, then I'd say the Arwing cockpit voice would be the COVAS "Verity" voice preset from Elite Dangerous. Either that or just copy ROB into your cockpit. Either one works, though it's not like it really matters.  
_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter VII - We're Finally Landing  
**_

* * *

Krystal awoke with a tired groan.

The vixen's eyes opened slightly, her vision blurry and fatigued. A dull ache throbbed through her head, only to subside after a few painful minutes of motionlessness.

She had been lying down under a tall palm tree on a small patch of grass, both of which were surrounded by a coastline that seemed to stretch an infinitely long distance. Once the steady ringing in her ears finally began to subside, the sound of gentle waves lazily rolling up onto the sandy beach ahead of her floated into her ears.

_'Where am I?'_ Her thoughts echoed. Being a telepath, her dreams tended to be much more lucid, but willing her environment to change like she normally could yielded no tangible result.

Her memory of what happened quickly returned to her, causing her to panic. The sound of Fox's panicked yell cut short from her comm, watching his arwing slam into the ground, racing towards the truck that had fired upon her love, until she was met with a deafening _BOOM _and-

Silence.

Suddenly, a voice behind her broke through the silence, causing her to jump slightly.

"Hey, you. You're finally awake."

She turned around, and saw a vixen standing under the tree, looking down at her. Her fur was a bright orange like Fox's, but she had small accents of bluish-purple peeking through and running down her arms that suspiciously had a similar hue to her own.

Krystal backpedaled on the grass, narrowing her eyes at Madison with a questioning gaze.

"You're not-"

"I am." Madison said, cutting her off. "I'm a Cerinian."

As if to confirm her words, the environment morphed into the icy wasteland that she had crashed on. Yet, as cold as it looked, Krystal still felt the warm rays of the sun from the beach, shielding her from the cold like a protective ball of warmth. The azure vixen heard an explosion above her, startling her and causing her to duck down slightly. Moments later, an arwing, what she presumed as Fox's, crashed into the snow nose-first like a dart sticking into a dartboard.

Before she could run towards the crash, Madison put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry," she said. "He's alive. Although, he did break his leg and lost a lot of blood Wolf shooting him in the shoulder."

Hearing this calmed Krystal's nerved a little bit, but she then felt pure anger after hearing that last part. Madison quickly took note of this and decided to tell her the rest. Before she could, however, the loud hum of a G-Diffuser working in overdrive could be heard from above, followed by another explosion.

Another arwing hit the ground, this time sliding forward on its top side until it came to a motionless, lifeless stop. Krystal knew that this was her hitting the ground, and the headache and ringing when she first woke up came as no surprise.

Then, the damned truck firing at them that she wanted to melt with laser fire so badly came to a stop.

Krystal watched as the canopy to Fox's arwing slowly opened, the metal frame groaning as the bent and broken pieces rubbed together unnaturally. A few seconds later the vulpine in question fell out, pulled himself up and began limping away from the crash.

The vixen, eyes fixated on the vulpine, also failed to notice the second set of footprints following her captain. The loud _PING-y_ noise of a blaster rang out, and Krystal felt a pang of fear add another twist to the knot in her stomach.

Fox stopped, hand pressed into his shoulder, blood leaking out and staining his clothes. Wolf stepped up and delivered a swift kick of his boot to the vulpine's back, sending him into the snow with a painful grunt. Krystal had to look away when the lupine kicked her love in the side, earning a loud crack and another pained groan. A loud explosion came from the base in the distance, but she ignored it. She just couldn't look away.

When Wolf drew his blaster, she could make out his words perfectly.

"Say hello to James for me."

At that point, Krystal had had enough. She began to move towards the imaginary Wolf, even if she knew it was just a replay of prior events. But, before she got any further, she found Madison's hand on her shoulder once again. The orange vixen's visage carried a knowing smile, one that almost seemed creepy given the situation.

"Watch."

Krystal cocked an eyebrow, but listened and looked ahead.

A large, W-shaped fighter jet screamed across the sky, swooping in and delivering a swift, lead-filled volley of justice to the villainous lupine. Krystal breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Fox's adversary had died, though she still worried about the vulpine himself. The same fighter quickly landed near the dead Wolf and the dying Fox as the low rumble of the Great Fox II making an orbital re-entry gradually became louder as the dreadnought neared the surface.

She crouched to her knees, contemplating the whole situation.

_'Bloody hell, that was close.'_

"You really care about him, don't you?" Madison asked.

_'This must be how Fox feels, having people not only be able to finish sentences for him, but also thoughts,' _Krystal wondered. She took a deep breath, and looked ahead to the wreckage to see another vulpine with opposite fur coloring as Madison, as well as Madison herself jump out. She let another deep breath pass in and out of her lungs as she watched Troy hold a gauze pad to the wound while Fox gave him a weak thumbs-up.

The azure vixen gave an affirming reply, her gaze unmoving. As she watched the Great Fox II make its touchdown and their backup team carry Fox inside, a new question crossed her mind.

"How did you escape Cerinia? I thought I was the last survivor." Krystal said to the vixen next to her.

"Well," Madison started as the background began fading back to the warm and comforting beach. "I managed to sneak aboard one of Andross' fighters and take off from the place before it blew to smithereens."

The destruction of Cerinia was still a touchy subject for Krystal, though she pushed past the melancholy memories. Madison gave her a knowing look, and spoke.

"Would you like to see Fox now?"

Krystal nodded, and everything slowly faded to black as the mental link was broken.

/

This time, she woke up for real. She tried to move her head, but was met with a sharp pain as she felt the effects of her concussion. When the pain dulled, she turned her body over in her bed in the _Great Fox_'s medical bay. Next to her was Fox with a cast running up his left leg, several pads on his exposed chest monitoring his heart rate, an IV tube running up from his arm to a bag hung on the head of the bed, a plethora of dried bloody bandages covering his right shoulder, and an oxygen mask covering his muzzle. His breathing was heavy and labored, as if it were tiring for him just to supply his lungs and what little blood he had left with oxygen.

After a while, Krystal managed to get up, slowly closing the gap between the two medical beds and sat down next to Fox. She leaned on the head of the bed and placed her hand over his, intertwining their fingers.

Trying to reach out to him with her telepathy, Krystal closed her eyes and focused her mind.

_'Fox, are you there?'_

Nothing.

_'Fox, can you hear me?'_

No response.

_'...Fox?'_

The silence Krystal was met with would have been enough to make her cry, worrying that she might never see her beloved captain alive again. She'd never hear his kind yet commanding voice, feel his powerful yet caring embrace, or see his ears flatten against his head when he blushed. However, she refused to be broken, and she pressed on.

Krystal sat at Fox's bedside for hours, waiting for the moment he would wake up. Sleep did not come easy, especially when the rest of her teammates walked in and did their hardest to convince her to get her rest. Eventually, she gave in and laid back in her bed, but not before scooting hers closer to Fox's. Still holding Fox's limp hand, she pulled the covers over her and tried to get what little sleep she could.

Madison walked in to see how they were doing, and smiled as she saw the pair of hands reaching across from each medical bed, sticking out from underneath the covers.

/

Four days had passed. Krystal had been able to get up and move around, yet she still sat at Fox's bedside from time to time.

Fox still did not wake.

Krystal was sitting on the side of the bed adjacent to her captain, watching him intently for any eye or hand movement. The bandages covering his shoulder had been replaced with fresh ones, the IV tube had been removed, as well as the oxygen mask, since Fox finally regained enough strength (and blood) to breathe on his own.

Krystal's eyes began to droop the longer she watched the sleeping mercenary, frowning slightly due to the lack of any result. She placed her hand in Fox's, looking down and closing her eyes as small thoughts indicating the worst had happened entered the corners of her mind. Just as Krystal had felt the worst she'd ever felt since the destruction of Cerinia, feeling what it was like to lose someone she cared about all over again, what she had been wishing and waiting for all along had happened, causing her to clench Fox's hand.

Fox's hand twitched slightly.

He slowly squeezed her hand back, groaning as his eyes opened slightly.

"Krystal?" Came the vulpine's weak and tired voice.

Krystal let out a few tears of joy and relief as she gave him a sad smile. The blue vixen leaned down to hug her captain, gently wrapping her arms around his neck so as not to touch his wound. Fox's left hand wrapped around her, gently rubbing her back as she nuzzled into his neck.

"I missed you," the blue vixen mumbled softly.

"I'd never leave you all alone, not after what happened to you," Fox said, breathing in the familiar scent that was his beautiful teammate.

Krystal pulled away and smiled through her tears, then leaned down and kissed him on the pinstripe of white fur that ran up the middle of his forehead. The two stayed that way for what could've been, or what Fox wanted to be an eternity, before the azure vixen held his hand, petting his cheek with the other.

"Do you remember what I asked you right before we left Corneria?" Fox asked, leaning into her touch.

"Mhm."

"Do you remember how you responded?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Krystal responded, reciting the event from memory.

"I hope you're ready for many more to come," Fox replied.

"I'm ready as long as you're with me," Krystal said, smiling slightly.

"I'll always be with you. Always," Fox said as Krystal leaned in to kiss him again.

/

_One month later_

_650 Miles above Corneria, OSZ_

"We'll see you guys around, don't going dying out there, alright?" Troy asked, video feeds of him and Madison taking up the screen of the _Great Fox_'s computer.

"Well, now we've got at least one less threat to deal with. Thanks again for your help, guys. We probably wouldn't have come back alive if it weren't for you two," Fox said with a smile.

"Anytime. Now if you'll excuse us, we've got some downtime to take advantage of," Madison added.

"I'll let you two get to it. See you around!"

The comm closed, and the _Wyvern _split away from the _Great Fox_, small flames lapping at the edges of the fighter craft as it went through a high speed orbital reentry.

The _Great Fox _gently floated back into the orbit of the giant blue and green ball that was Corneria, the quiet hum of the engines slowly dying down as they decelerated. Fox sat in the captain's chair, a cast on either leg and a wheelchair folded up on the floor next to him. As they neared the planet, a video feed of an orbital personnel popped up on the giant holographic screen.

"Welcome back, Star Fox. You are cleared for hangar four in the airfield."

"Understood, we'll be bringing the _Great Fox_ in for a landing," Fox replied in his professional, commanding tone.

"I'll send the memo along. Why not the Arwings, might I ask?"

Fox smirked at the A/STC crewman.

"Flying's pretty uncomfortable when you've broken a few bones, yes?"

The shepherd let out a small chuckle.

"Yeah, I'd assume so."

_**THE END**_

* * *

_\- A/STC: Air/Space Traffic Control_

_\- 1,200 Miles is the outer edge of the OSZ, or Orbital Stasis Zone - the area above Corneria where orbital flight is the easiest and most stable. Once you pass under 400 miles, you begin reentry. For comparison, the International Space Station orbits at roughly 254 miles above earth's surface. 1,200 miles being the outer edge of LEO, and 400 miles being the outer edge of the atmosphere._

* * *

_Aaaaaand... That's a wrap!_

_Thank you all for reading through this mediocre story of mine. I want to give a big thank you to Troy Groomes for letting me use his OC's, as well as the authors in this community who served as the inspiration for this fic. __Drop a fave if you enjoyed it, a review if you have something to say, and I'll be back once the sequel's somewhere near completion. Speaking of which, slap that next chapter button 'cause the preview's primed and ready!_


	8. TimeWarp Preview

_In order to avoid the train wreck that was the first iteration of Journey, I won't start uploading chapters of this until it's mostly (if not completely) done. In the meantime, though, __enjoy these couple of excerpts. I am aware this is really short, but I wanted to get this out ASAP, and also not reveal too much about what's coming. Also, I've got a small one-shot in the works, so expect to see that sometime in the future. Thank you for reading/reviewing, I'll see you all next time.  
_

**_TimeWarp - A Preview_**

* * *

/

"Damn it."

Fox McCloud stood defeated in his driveway, staring at the wrecked form of his prized LeDorean as the automated tow truck pulled away, the loud, cautionary beeping sound not being the only thing making his sensitive ears fall flat against his head.

Ice on the roadways during the winter had always been a common occurrence. Truth be told, one road worker not laying rock salt on one small patch of frozen water had resulted in his steering and brakes to become useless for a few seconds, sending him into a tree on the side of the road. Sure, he was fine, and thankfully no one was around to see, but the car was completely totaled. The same car he drove as another way to remember his father, the war hero that founded the mercenary team Star Fox, now looked like its front end had just been subject to a trash compactor.

He could practically see James McCloud himself standing next to him, slapping a hand on his back, making a joke about it, but overall glad that he was okay. It may have been just a car to anyone else, but to Fox, this was a legacy. That car belonged to a hero that Fox thought he could never live up to, someone who'd still be flying among the stars today, From Corneria to Titania, Fortuna, Area 3 and 6, Zoness, Katina, Fichina, Sector Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Omega-

_'Sector Beta...'_

Fox quickly brought up his communicator, and walked into his house. After a few moments, the private frequency for Bill Grey responded, and the image of the bulldog Fox was friends with back in his academy days appeared on the holographic display.

"Hey Fox, you caught me on my break, what's up?" Came the usual laid-back voice.

"Hey Bill, I know this is a bit sudden, but do you remember when I singlehandedly destroyed that entire battle cruiser that was about to blow up the Cornerian flagship out in Sector Beta?"

The mental recording of Fox saying "You owe me one!" over the comm played through Bill's head.

"Let me guess," the bulldog started with a smirk, "now's when you finally call in that favor?"

/

Fara Phoenix, Chief Executive Officer of Space Dynamics and flying extraordinaire, passed by two guards stationed outside of the Space Dynamics Special Operations and Research Laboratory. The Special Operations Laboratory, usually just referred to as the Spec-Ops Lab, was only used for top secret projects, typically under contracts from the Cornerian Defense Force or other military branches, or sometimes the occasional attempt to defy fundamental scientific laws in order to create copious amounts of shredded cheese for late-night consumption.

Today, however, the lab was being used for the former, and she'd brought a friend along with her.

Standing proudly next to the sandy-colored fennec was Slippy Toad, Head of Engineering and Technical Design at Space Dynamics, and an all-around nerd. A former member of the mercenary group Star Fox, and had since hung up his wings several years after the defeat of the aparoid threat to pursue a career at the aerospace engineering giant. Though he did not work directly with Star Fox anymore, Space Dynamics designed, built, refined, and produced the iconic Arwings that the mercenary team used; an elite, ultra-range star fighter that dominated the battlefields in the skies and among the stars since its origin, the magnum opus of Cornerian innovation and engineering.

The frog and the fox each looked through a small protrusion next to a large set of steel double doors, until a low beep escaped a speaker next to the device. The words "Retinas Verified" appeared on a small display, followed by a loud clicking sound, signaling that the two were now allowed to enter the lab. The entrance opened, revealing a room lined with lab tables and computers, accompanied by a testing room behind a wall of reinforced glass. As the two walked inside, a spotted brown feline with high, pointed ears and a lab coat came up beside Fara and handed her a clipboard. The steel doors closed and locked themselves behind them with a low _thud._

"Here's the lab report from the recent tests, Fara," the lynx said.

"Thanks Miyu. I'll see what we can make of it."

The lab report had bold letters printed along the top, intended to be the first thing read before anything else.

_"Chrono-Matter," _the vixen read aloud. Slippy stopped glancing around the room and snorted out of laughter.

"This is gonna be part Star Fox fanfic, part Back-to-the-Future ripoff, isn't it?"

Shut it, Slippy.


End file.
